Product Guides

The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world. Major brands are exploiting garment workers and harming the environment in the production of shoes and clothing. However, there has been a rise in sustainable fashion brands, making everything from sportswear to underwear who are putting people and the planet before profit.

Product Guides

As food & drink prices continue to rise across the world, it is often the producers and workers who are losing out to big corporations. We shine a light on the food sovereignty movement pushing for a fairer food system that supports local business and we comment on the rise of veganism.

Product Guides

Many of the issues from our homes & garden are often hidden from the consumer, from toxic chemicals in our cleaning products to pesticides in our garden. We look at the greenest way to wash, clean and cook and how to recycle your old appliances.

The mainstream banking & insurance industries continue to invest in shady investments such as fossil fuels and nuclear weapons. However, a growing number of ethical alternatives makes it easier than ever to switch to a sustainable bank account or pick an insurance company with an ethical policy.

We look at shops or online platforms that sell a range of products, and how they tend to dominate the market by implementing a profit-first business model and by having a lacklustre approach to ethical practice. We also celebrate ethical companies offering an alternative, from online retailers to sustainable fashion brands.

Product Guides

The tech sector is plagued by reports of tax avoidance, corporate lobbying and the use of conflict minerals. We look at the brands proving that technology can be made ethically, from Fairphone to Green ISP.

Product Guides

Are you a lover of the outdoors? Unfortunately the companies that provide your outdoor gear & transport are often harming the environment; from car companies cheating emission tests to outdoor gear companies using toxic chemicals that damage the environment. We provide practical information for consumers on how to keep your ethics while you travel.

The future of onshore wind farms in the UK

Will there be a boom in onshore wind energy following the government’s change of heart? Simon Birch investigates.

With the world’s attention focused on fighting COVID-19, climate change – the other and far deadlier planetary crisis – is of course very much still with us.

There’s some welcome good news on this front then as, just before the Coronavirus stormed into our lives in the UK in March, the government performed a remarkable U-turn with its climate change policies.

In a move which took many by surprise, the government abruptly abandoned its opposition to subsidising onshore windfarms some five years after it ended its support for new projects, a policy which effectively stopped the UK’s booming onshore windfarm industry in its tracks.

This policy change means that onshore wind farms will now be able to compete for government subsidies alongside other renewable technologies such as offshore wind and solar.

The U-turn came after the government pledged to reduce UK carbon emissions to almost zero by 2050, a target which the government’s own climate advisers accepted could only be achieved by a massive tripling of onshore wind energy capacity within the next 15 years.

Not surprisingly climate change campaigners rushed to welcome the news. Alethea Warrington from the climate change campaign group Possible said:

“We can finally celebrate the UK’s cheapest new energy source – onshore wind – being brought in from the cold”

The UK’s wind energy industry was equally supportive of the move:

“This is a very significant announcement for our industry and for boosting renewable energy capacity in the UK,” said Luke Clark from Renewable UK, the UK’s renewable trade association.

So much for the good news. The bad news though is that whilst we can look forward to seeing new onshore wind farms being built across large parts of the UK, in reality there’s still an effective block on onshore wind farms in England.

It was back in 2015 that the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, caved in to pressure from Conservative MPs from the English shires who objected to onshore windfarms which they claimed were an eyesore and nothing more than an ugly blot on the landscape. Overnight this led to a blanket ban on onshore windfarms right across the whole of the UK.

However, because planning regulations are a devolved power, new onshore windfarm projects will find it far easier to get planning permission in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

“Since 2015, any planning application in England for a wind turbine can effectively be blocked by just by one or two objectors and this is the reason that no new turbines have been erected in England recently,” said Jeremy Thorpe from Sharenergy, a co-op which promotes community-owned renewable energy.

Bruce Davis from Abundance Investment, the online ethical investment platform agrees that planning is a major barrier to new onshore wind projects in England:

“We know that onshore wind is popular with the public, but we need to reform the planning process. As it stands it’s harder to develop a windfarm in England than it is to develop a high-rise tower block.”

But whilst new onshore windfarms may still struggle to get built in England, can we expect to see a wave of new community windfarms springing up across the rest of the UK?

John Malone from Energy4All which works with communities to develop renewable energy isn’t so sure:

“The recent changes will have little positive impact on community windfarm projects as the new support is for large windfarms greater than 5 megawatts. This precludes most community schemes which typically operate only two or three turbines”

Ultimately if we’re serious about tackling the climate crisis, then the planning system in England clearly needs to be urgently overhauled.

In February 2018, Shell bought energy provider First Utility, meaning it now provides gas and electricity directly to UK-households. It has re-branded the provider as 'Shell Energy' and switched it to 100% renewables. Yet, Shell continues to produce 10% of the oil and gas used in the UK.
Is one of the world’s biggest polluters trying to greenwash or is it making strides to de-carbonise its core business?